List of Washburn University alumni

The following is a list of notable people associated with Washburn University, located in the American city of Topeka, Kansas.

Arts and entertainment

• Bill Kurtis (J.D. '66; D.Lit. '85) – television journalist and producer^[1]
• Kerry Livgren, primary songwriter and founding member of progressive rock band Kansas
• Larry Niven (B.A. '62; D.Lit. '84) – science-fiction writer
• James Reynolds ('69) – actor; portrays Capt. Abe Carver on the soap opera Days of Our Lives
• Bradbury Thompson (1911–1995) (B.A. '34; D.F.A. 65) – graphic artist

Business

• Greg Brenneman (B.B.A. '84; DComm '99) – chief executive officer, Quiznos; former chief executive officer, Burger King; former chief operating officer, Continental Airlines
• Rich Davis – founder, Kansas City Masterpiece; former dean, University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences
• John F. Kilmartin, Jr. – former chairman and chief executive officer, Mervyns
• Ronald K. Richey – president and chief executive officer (1985–1998), Torchmark Corporation

Government and politics

• Henry Justin Allen – 21st Governor of Kansas^[2]
• Georgia Neese Clark (1900–1995) (B.A. '21; D.B.A. '66) – 29th (and first female) Treasurer of the United States
• Bob Dole (J.D. '52; LLD '69) – former U.S. Senator from Kansas, Republican candidate for President (1996)^[3]
• John Edward Erickson (1863–1946) (1890) – Governor of Montana and U.S. Senator^[4]
• Joan Finney (1925–2001) (B.A. '82; D.P.S. '95) – 42nd Governor of Kansas (1991–95; the state's first female governor); Kansas State Treasurer (1972–86)^[5]
• Art Fletcher (1924–2005) (B.A. '50; D.H.L. '90) – chairman, National Black Chamber of Commerce; director, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights; executive director, United Negro College Fund
• Denver David Hargis – U.S. Representatives from Kansas^[6]
• John F. Hayes – Kansas House of Representatives
• Donald R. Heath – U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia (1952), Vietnam (1952–1955), Lebanon (1955–1957) and Saudi Arabia (1958–1961)
• Harold S. Herd – Kansas State Senate (1965–1972), Senate Minority Leader; Mayor of Coldwater, Kansas (1950–1954)
• Delano Lewis (J.D. '63; LLD '00) – former U.S. Ambassador to South Africa; former president, National Public Radio
• Charles D. McAtee – Director of Kansas penal institutions during the last executions held in Kansas; candidate for Congress and attorney general (Republican)
• John McCuish ('25) – 34th Governor of Kansas^[7]
• Dennis Moore (J.D. '70) – U.S. House of Representatives from Overland Park^[8]
• Paul J. Morrison – Kansas Attorney General (2007–08), District Attorney of Johnson County, Kansas (1990–2007)
• Howard B. Myers, (Ph.D.) – Director, Division of Social Research, Works Progress Administration during FDR's New Deal
• Roger Noriega (B.A. '82) – Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, U.S. Department of State
• Warren W. Shaw – Kansas State Representative (1951–1957); Candidate for Kansas Governor (1956); member of the Washburn Athletic Hall of Fame
• Jim Slattery – Kansas House of Representatives (1973–1979); U.S. Representative from 2nd District of Kansas (1983–95); Candidate for Kansas Governor (1994), Candidate for U.S. Senate (2008)^[9]
• Robert T. Stephan – Attorney General of Kansas, 1979–1995
• Robert Stone – Speaker of the Kansas House of Representatives (1915), Member of the Kansas House of Representatives (1905–1917)
• Ron Thornburgh – Kansas Secretary of State (1995–present)
• Togiola Tulafono (J.D. 1975) – Governor of American Samoa, 2004–present
• Douglas S. Wright – Mayor of Topeka, Kansas (1983–89)

Journalism

• Arthur J. Carruth, Jr – co-owner and editor, Topeka State Journal; chairman, Washburn Board of Regents; namesake of the university's Carruth Hall

Law

• Nancy Caplinger (J.D. '85) – Kansas Supreme Court Justice (2011–present)
• Sam A. Crow – Senior Judge, United States District Court for the District of Kansas (1981–present)
• Lee A. Johnson (J.D. '80) – Kansas Supreme Court Justice (2005–present)
• Tyler C. Lockett – Kansas Supreme Court (1983–2002); District court judge in Wichita (1977–1983); Judge, common pleas court (1971–1977)
• Marla Luckert (J.D. '80) – Kansas Supreme Court Justice (2003–present)
• J. Thomas Marten – District Judge, United States District Court for the District of Kansas (1996–present)
• Kay McFarland (B.A. '57; J.D. '64) – first female chief justice of the Kansas Supreme Court
• Eric F. Melgren – District Judge, United States District Court for the District of Kansas (2008–present)
• Joseph Wilson Morris – senior partner, Gable & Gotwals (1984–present); general counsel of Shell Oil (1978–1983); Chief Judge, Eastern District of Oklahoma (1974–1978); Dean, University of Tulsa College of Law (1972–1974)
• Paul J. Morrison (B.A.; J.D.) – former Attorney General for the State of Kansas
• Fred Phelps (B.A. '62; J.D. '64) – disbarred lawyer and pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church, known for its extreme views on homosexuality, Christianity, and American soldiers; he and the Westboro Baptist Church were the subject of a U.S. Supreme Court case, Snyder v. Phelps
• Shirley Phelps-Roper (B.A. '79; J.D. '81) – daughter of Fred Phelps; attorney and spokesperson for the Westboro Baptist Church
• Eric Rosen (J.D. '84) – Kansas Supreme Court Justice (2007–present)
• Gordon Sloan (J.D. '35) – former judge on the Oregon Supreme Court
• Robert Stone (B.A. 1889) – founder of Washburn Law School in 1903, Speaker of the Kansas House of Representatives (1915)
• Ozell Miller Trask – appointed by President Richard Nixon as a Federal Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit (1969–1984)

Science and technology

• Karl Bowman – former chief of psychiatry at Bellevue Hospital in New York; former director of the Langley Porter Psychiatric Clinic at the University of California, San Francisco (1954–1964), Superintendent of the Alaska Psychiatric Institute (1964–1967)
• Lauren Drain – nurse and author known for writing the 2013 book Banished, which chronicles her experiences and eventual banishment from the controversial Westboro Baptist Church
• Karl Menninger – psychiatrist; co-founder, the Menninger Clinic
• Earl Wilbur Sutherland, Jr. (1915–1974) (B.S. '37) – recipient, 1971 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

Military service

• Brigadier General Arthur S. Champeny – only man in U.S. history to receive the Distinguished Service Cross in three separate conflicts: World War I, World War II and Korea
• Brigadier General Clarence T. "Curly" Edwinson – flew 30 missions as a World War II fighter pilot; Commander, 42nd Air Division, U.S. Air Force; all conference halfback at Washburn
• Major General Kathleen E. Fick – Director of Intelligence of the National Guard Bureau
• Brigadier General Howard S. Searle – Assistant Division Commander, 35th Infantry Division
• Colonel Leroy W. Stutz – U.S. Air Force pilot; shot down on his 85th mission in Vietnam; spendt 2,284 days as a prisoner of war, including time at the "Hanoi Hilton" (attended WU in 1960, transferred to Air Force Academy)

Sports

See also List of Washburn Ichabods head football coaches

• Ernest Bearg – WU football coach (1918–19, 1929–35), Nebraska football coach (1925–28), Nebraska football Hall of Fame (1988), Washburn Athletics Hall of Fame (1973–74)
• Kurt Budke – WU basketball and graduate assistant, head coach for Louisiana Tech (2002–2005) and Oklahoma State (2005–2011) women's programs
• Bob Davis – radio broadcaster for the Kansas City Royals and Jayhawks football and men's basketball teams
• Morley Fraser – coach, Albion College (1954–1968), led the school to 11 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association championships
• Davey Lopes (B.Ed '69) – former manager, Milwaukee Brewers baseball team; 16-year major league baseball career
• Mike Racy (B.B.A. '87) – former NCAA vice president (1993–2013); incoming commissioner for the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (February 2017)
• Jerry Schemmel (B.A. '82, J.D. '85) – radio voice of the Denver Nuggets
• Troy Stedman – linebacker for Kansas City Chiefs
• Dave Wiemers – college football coach
• Cary Williams ('08)  – NFL cornerback, Tennessee Titans (2008–2009), Baltimore Ravens (2009–2012), Philadelphia Eagles (2013–14), Seattle Seahawks (2014–present)

See also

• List of people from Topeka, Kansas

References

1. Bill Kurtis
2. "Henry Justin Allen". National Governors Association. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
3. "Bob Dole". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
4. "Montana Governor John Edward Erickson". National Governors Association. Retrieved October 10, 2012.
5. "Joan Finney". National Governors Association. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
6. "Denver David Hargis". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
7. "John McCuish". National Governors Association. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
8. "Dennis Moore". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
9. "Jim Slattery". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved October 14, 2012.